Tom Harrell

A first-rate trumpet soloist, generally considered by many musicians to be the top hard bop trumpeter of the 1980s and '90s, Tom Harrell has performed in a distinguished fashion for several bandleaders like Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Horace Silver, Bill Evans, Lee Konitz or George Russell.

From 2007 to 2011, Harrell delivered a magnificently consistent torrent of all-original material for his stable working quintet with Wayne Escoffery, Danny Grissett, Ugonna Okegwo and Jonathan Blake.

The albums since then have tinkered with the formula, either abetting or replacing members of the core group, or, in the case of last year’s First Impressions, playing just a couple of Harrell originals to focus on interpretations of Debussy and Ravel.

In Something Gold, Something Blue he tweaks the template pairing him with a second trumpeter and a guitar-led rhythm section.
It’s a lovely, unpretentious and yet, quietly masterful album which is not a bad way to think of someone with whom magic can really happen anytime. It also delightfully bookmarks the latest chapter in the 70-year-old leader’s remarkable career.

PERSONNEL:

TOM HARRELL, trumpet, flugelhorn
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE, trumpet
CHARLES ALTURA, guitar
UGONNA OKEGWO, bass
JOHNATHAN BLAKE, drums

Recorded in Hoboken, New Jersey, August 28 & 30, 2015

TRACKS:

01. Circuit
02. Travelin'
03. Trances
04. Delta of the Nile
05. Keep On Goin'
06. View
07. Body and Soul
08. Sound Image
09. The Vehicle